Lancashire Folk-lore Part 8

[14] G.o.dwin's _Lives of Necromancers_, Art. Dee. Dr. Dee's _Diary_ (Camden Soc.) contains many references to his alchemical pursuits.--See pp. 7, 22, 25, 27, 28, 37, and 63.

[15] Brewster's _Life of Sir Isaac Newton_, vol. ii. p. 376.

[16] Preface to _Bibl. Chem. Curiosa_, quoted by Thomson, p. 18. For a list of Boyle's works connected with alchemy, see the _Philosophical Epitaphs_, by W. C.

[17] _Pictorial History of England_, vol. ii. p. 207.

[18] Baines's _Lancashire_.

[19] _Fdera_, vol. ix. p. 379.

[20] _Rot. Parl._, vol. v. p. 314_a_.

[21] _Rot. Parl._, vol. v. p. 314_a_.

[22] _Worthies_, &c., p. 122.

[23] For a copy of this patent in the original Latin, see Baines's _Lancashire_, vol. i. p. 406.

[24] Pennant's _London_.

[25] _History of his Life and Times._

[26] Lilly's _Life and Times_, p. 224.

[27] Whatton's _Memoir_ in Baines's _Lancashire_, vol. ii. p. 367.

[28] From Barnaby Googe's Translation of the _Regnum Papistic.u.m_ (or Popish Kingdom) of Naogeorgus, fol. 41 _b_.

[29] _Golden Legend._

[30] Hone's _Every-Day Book_, p. 141.

[31] See Durand's _Rationale_.

[32] Strutt's _Manners and Customs_, vol. iii. p. 176.

[33] Ray's _Collection of Old English Proverbs_.

[34] P. P., in _Notes and Queries_, vol. ix. p. 569.

[35] Thornber's _History of Blackpool_, p. 342.

[36] Toland's _History of the Druids_.

[37] Hone's _Every-Day Book_, vol. i. p. 594.

[38] _Gentleman's Magazine_, February, 1795.

[39] Mr. William Harrison's notes on Waldron's _Description of the Isle of Man_, p. 125.

[40] Hampson's _Medii aevi Kalendarium_, vol. i. p. 252.

[41] Rev. W. Thornber's _History of Blackpool_.

[42] _Pa.s.sages in the Life of a Radical_, vol. i. p. 130.

[43] _History of Droylsden_, p. 67.

[44] Mr. John Higson's _Notices of Droylsden_.

[45] See _Pictorial History of Lancashire_, p. 189, and Whitaker's _History of Whalley_, p. 342.

[46] _History of Blackpool_, p. 332.

[47] In his _L'Allegro_, where he

"Tells how the drudging goblin sweat To earn the cream-bowl duly set, When, in one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shad'wy flail had thresh'd the corn, That ten day-labours could not end; Then lies him down the _lubber-fiend_, And stretch'd out all the chimney's length, Basks at the fire his hairy strength, And, cropful, out of doors he flings, Ere the first c.o.c.k his matin rings."

[48] _Pictorial History of Lancashire._

[49] _Sketches of Lancashire Life_, p. 192.

CHARMS AND SPELLS.

These may be placed in two cla.s.ses--those directed against evil beings, witchcraft, &c., and those which may be termed in their object curative of "all the ills that flesh is heir to." First as to

CHARMS AND SPELLS AGAINST EVIL BEINGS.

These are usually supplied for a consideration by the fortune-tellers, astrologers, or "wise men" of a neighbourhood. The following is a correct copy of one of these doc.u.ments which was found over the door of a house in the neighbourhood of Burnley. Its occupier had experienced "ill luck," and he thus sought protection from all evil-doers:--

"Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Trine, s.e.xtile, Dragon's Head, Dragon's Tail, I charge you all to gard this hause from all evils spirits whatever, and gard it from all Desorders, and from aney thing being taken wrangasly, and give this famaly good Ealth & Welth."

Another individual, well known to the writer, was so far convinced that certain casualties that happened to his cattle arose from the practice of witchcraft, that he unconsciously resorted to Baal-worship, and consumed a live calf in the fire, in order to counteract the influences of his unknown enemies. At the same time, almost every door about his house had its horse-shoe nailed to it as a charm, to protect all within it from demons and witches.

A CHARM, WRITTEN IN CYPHER, AGAINST WITCHCRAFT AND EVIL SPIRITS.

Early in the nineteenth century, some men engaged in pulling down a barn, or shippon, at West Bradford, about two miles north of c.l.i.theroe, were attracted by seeing a small square piece of wood fall from one of the beams, and from it dropped a paper, folded as a small letter, but measuring, when opened, 7 by 6 inches. A sort of superscription was in large and unknown characters, and inside the paper was nearly covered with a species of hieroglyphics, mixed with strange symbols; and in the top left corner a table or square of thirty-six small squares, filled with characters in red ink, the great bulk of the writing being in black ink. The charm belongs to Jeremiah Garnett, Esq., of Roefield, c.l.i.theroe, and it was first deciphered by his brother, the late Rev.

Richard Garnett, of the British Museum, in May, 1825. It is this gentleman's explanation, with a very few additions and corrections by the present writer, the substance of which is now appended:--The table in the top corner is a sort of magic square, called by astrologers "The Table of the Sun." It consists of six rows of six small squares each, and is so arranged that the sum of the figures in every row of six squares, whether counted vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, amounts to 111, and the sum total of the table to 666--a favourite magical number, being that of "the beast."[50] To mystify the thing as much as possible the numerals are expressed by letters, or rather by a sort of cypher, chiefly formed from the Greek alphabet. Thus 1 is represented by _a_; 2 = _e_; 3 = _i_; 4 = _o_; 5 = _u_; 6 = _l_; 7 = _m_; 8 = _n_; 9 = _r_; and 0 = _z_. In a tablet, or s.p.a.ce at the top of the paper, flanking this table, are five mystical characters, or symbols, in red ink. The first consists of the symbols of the sun, and of the constellation Leo, which, in astrology, is "the sun's own house,"

and where, of course, he is supposed to have the greatest power. A word in black-ink cyphers, under these symbols, is _Machen_, the cabalistic name of "the third [or fourth] heaven;" and the Archangel Michael being supposed to preside over the sphere [and to be the "Angel of the Lord's Day"], his seal, or cypher, is introduced below these symbols--a series of joined lines and swirls, like some long word written in one of the older English shorthands. [This figure will be found under "The Lord's Day," in the Heptameron of one Peter de Abano.] In cyphers below, in black ink, is written his name, "Michael." The next cabalistic character represents "the _Intelligence_ of the Sun," and over it, in cypher or Greek letters, is written "intelligence." Under this is another cabalistic symbol, denoting the "Spirit of the Sun," the word "spirit"

being written within it. In astrology, every planet is supposed to have two beings, or spirits, attached to it, and called its Intelligence and its Spirit. The last figure (which contains in a sort of quartering the word _sigil_, seal) is "the seal of the Sun" himself, in astrological language. All these symbols show that the charm was meant to be put in operation on a Sunday, that being the day of the Archangel Michael, as well as of the sun. These symbols and table occupy the upper third of the paper, the remaining two-thirds being filled with the words of the charm itself, in fourteen lines, of a sort of cypher-writing, in which the five vowels are represented by a sort of arbitrary character, as are most of the consonants, g, l, m, n, and p, being written as Greek letters. The fourteen lines may be thus rendered in ordinary letters; and it may be supposed that whoever p.r.o.nounces the incantation, makes the sign of the cross wherever it is indicated in the writing:--

Line 1. "apanton [or awanton] + hora + camab. + naadgra.s.s + pynavet ayias + araptenas.